Odd Future Joins The Pop-Up Store Craze

News that Odd Future are planning pop-up stores while on tour is the latest in a growing range of such temporary retail shops, many of which have been developed for music events. Though some may consider this a trend, pop-stores or shops are now well-established and could be thought of as an option for taking the merch table to another level at a time when music merch is become more important than ever to working musicians.

I initially hoped the news about Odd Future's pop-up stores on their upcoming tour (dates and locations to be announced) would be reasonably interesting but all I can find so far are one-line references and coverage of their LA store which was scheduled to be up for a month for the Christmas season.

I would have posted this video but it just shows some art on the outside entry and then some horsing around in the stockroom with not much about the shop. I guess that's typical for Odd Future but it's getting sort of boring unless you're in the cult.

Pop-up stores have been around long enough that calling them a trend is inappropriate. Online pop-stores are also appearing, for example, Target is developing The Shops at Target as 6 week pop-ups that are both in-store and online. The development of online pop-up stores is an interesting flip of the concept from local and limited to global and accessible though Brit's Pop-Up Shop, a permanent site featuring flash sales for Britney Spears merchandise, stretches the concept a bit far.

Here are some music-related pop-up stores from 2011 that offer some useful examples of the possibilities:

Treasure Island Music Festival expanded the idea of the pop-up shop beyond merchandise to include tickets sales (no service charge), a related photo exhibit and a series of events the weekend prior to the festival.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's album, "Watch The Throne," got its own pop-up shop to celebrate its release. In addition to album sales, the reconfigured Maybach from Spike Jonez' video for "Otis" was on display.

Though the previous two examples promoted an event and a record release respectively, Tivka Records was a month-long installation in an art gallery by a member of the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation. It included Jewish music experts to discuss the vinyl on hand, a remix station allowing attendees to post their creations on Facebook and even a "10-seat movie theater screening restored Jewish musicals."

Pop-up stores offer an interesting way to turn the classic merch table into an event. Please share additional examples of your favorite pop-up stores in the comments.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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Odd Future Joins The Pop-Up Store Craze

News that Odd Future are planning pop-up stores while on tour is the latest in a growing range of such temporary retail shops, many of which have been developed for music events. Though some may consider this a trend, pop-stores or shops are now well-established and could be thought of as an option for taking the merch table to another level at a time when music merch is become more important than ever to working musicians.